the gift cards were for best buy. she must of got some nice stuff. when i worked in baltimore last year i herd a lot about it on the news. this has been a long on going case. i cant believe she was only convicted on one charge.

history holds many centuries worth of controlled crimes, it seems now the sissy method has allowed even the trusted echelons to openly spit in rightousness's eye.......

examples need to be made double on trusted servents who "go astray" or the USA will be like jersey soon....

"A jury of nine women and three men will decide the guilt or innocence of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon." "convicted on any of the charges, she will have to step down as mayor and forfeit an $83,000 pension and could face a fine or jail time."

Poconoeagle wrote:history holds many centuries worth of controlled crimes, it seems now the sissy method has allowed even the trusted echelons to openly spit in rightousness's eye.......

examples need to be made double on trusted servents who "go astray" or the USA will be like jersey soon....

"A jury of nine women and three men will decide the guilt or innocence of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon." "convicted on any of the charges, she will have to step down as mayor and forfeit an $83,000 pension and could face a fine or jail time."

She was a lot better mayor then martin O malley was. That guy is pure evil. even though shelia was a democrat, i sort of liked her. she seemed down to earth and real. just trying to do what was right in her eyes, for the city) i didnt mean using the best buy gift cards. i feel bad for her as a lot of the big wig politicians and such in baltimore had it out for her from day one. she wasnt a bad girl. just not liked. and if your not well liked in baltimore ... watch your back mofo

Baltimore is a scary place. one of the highest murder rates in the country. they rank first or second evey year

Poconoeagle wrote:yes it is. I frequented it many times. Done some car repo's there and dat sure aint pretty a job.

it just sucks when any leading power act like such a bottom feeder...

Yes it does, i dont agree with what she susposedly did, im just saying she got a bad rap from day one. sort of like a republican would in baltimore. i think if im not mistaken baltimore usually votes about 75 percent demcrat 25 repub. I hated baltimore so much. when i lived there, when people visited they always wanted to go to inner harbor, unless your loaded inner harbor sucks balls

Here, the symbolism of a public official stealing resources intended for the poor merits not only loss of position but the kind of sentence which sends a message: that violation of the public trust is a malfeasance of the most vile sort and should be dealt with harshly.

It's like the difference between Watergate and Monica-gate. While both could be argued to have been "minor" in nature, one was an attempt to subvert the political system. When the crime involves the function of gov't, it should be a bigger deal.

Thanks in no small part to the 8th Amendment, we have the tools to mete out justice without literally drawing blood. But the four classic purposes of the criminal law are punishment, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation; in the case of a public official abusing his/her office, particular emphasis on deterring such conduct going forward is appropriate. The sentence has to send a message.

The judge & jury will all get gift cards if found innocent, just kidding. If found guilty she not only should be fired but forfeit her pension also as someone else has mentioned, too often they are allowed to keep making a living off of the tax payers they cheated. If I would have been caught stealing off of the company I worked for my job & pension would have both gone.

Well this afternoon Dixon, who was facing sentencing on her theft conviction in a couple weeks and a perjury trial to start in March, took an Alford plea. As part of the plea, she's agreed to step down as mayor of Baltimore effective Feb. 4th. She retains her $83,000.00 per yer pension for life. I'm sure our resident legal expert will expound on it or correct me if I'm wrong but an Alford plea essentially means she admits no guilt but agrees the prosecution has enough evidence to convict her on the perjury charge which was the more serious of the charges. Man that's a tough. Get convited of stealing thousands in donated gift cards intended for poor families and end up with 83k/year for life. They sure showed her. She has to do 500 hours of community service and donate 45k to charity. Barely a slap on the wrist.

The classic characteristic of the "Alford plea" is that it's done to avoid some mandatory sentence or sentence element associated with conviction of the crime(s). In the original case, defendant Alford would have been exposed to a mandatory death penalty for a murder conviction. In this case, it apparently was to preserve her right to receive her pension.

The plea is akin to the nolo contendere plea we learned about when another famous Marylander, Nixon VP Spiro T. Agnew, pleaded to tax charges in 1973. It isn't an admission of guilt, rather only a concession that there is evidence sufficient to establish the prosecution's case.

It should be noted that such pleas are done by agreement with the prosecutor, in the absence of which they usually aren't accepted. In this case,

State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, who led a lengthy investigation into City Hall corruption, said, "I think it was time for this case to end." "I thought it was important that the mayor resign so that this city can move forward and have a new mayor that hasn't been tainted with corruption," he said. "That was an important consideration on our part."

So it looks like the prosecution got their resignation and the Mayor's waiver of all appeal rights, while Ms Dixon, if she completes her probation, eventually will be eligible to receive the pension she accumulated in 20 yrs of pubic service.

Quite often people don't think much of shoplifting or minor theft as a serious crime. I can count on one hand the number of times a police officer came into my shop to look for shoplifters. Many perpetrators believe the victim is a faceless corporation that "deserves it" or they think there is no victim. Most of the time the items are small and of limited value. The problem for the shopkeeper is that they do add up to large numbers. Many are cavalier and say that "it's just a cost of doing business-- a write off" or "you can make it up by raising your prices" (In a competitive market, it simply isn't true).

Some are more harsh and insist that the owner hasn't done his job in protecting inventory assets. The problem is age old and unless you have the volume and resources of Walmart, it's nearly impossible to reduce. For me, the cost of installing security measures is feasible but paying someone to look after the security and follow up is more than the cost of the shrinkage. It is often just accepted because of the ubiquity and pervasiveness of the problem.

Retailers rely on a more-or-less honorable society. Each time the crime is dealt with softly by the legal system, the problem grows. The crime of petit larceny in my opinion is not dealt with properly in our legal system. If, as our resident lawyer has stated, the four classical purposes of the law are punishment, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation, then petit larceny isn't even on the legal radar screen. The law does a better job with traffic infractions.

Personally, I have lost through inventory shrinkage enough to truly wish that the mayor had lost her cushy pension. Certainly shoplifters caused me to lose mine. Over the years, all the perps I have experienced except one 16 yr old burglar got slaps on the wrist. A 16 yr old got a class d felony conviction for stealing $1100 in baseball cards, small electronics and candy. It seems that he had about 10 suspected burglaries previously but he burglarized my store 4 days after turning 16. The police had a bead on him. My accounting of the missing goods very closely matched the recovered goods and sealed his fate. Of all of them, he's the one that should have beat the rap due to his status as a minor. No rehab for him.

I had an employee embezzler once too. Over two an a half months the person took $3200 in cash doing false returns. (My mistake not knowing the person had the security key to be able to do so). When I discovered it I used cameras to catch this person in the act. The person confessed to the police chief. Restitution was made and because the person had two young children, the case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. The case was later dismissed. This person was a 30-something adult who also held a position of trust in a volunteer corps. The person had also been caught in other illegal acts but never prosecuted. No punishment for that person.

Not long after I posted this update yesterday about her plea arrangements, she made a public statement. Keep in mind throughout this whole process which has gone on for years, she has been defiant and arrogant. There has never been any admission of wrong doing or more importantly to the citizens, any apology. Her statement yesterday was no different. although several reporters asked her if she would apolgize, she dodged and changed the subject. She refuses to apologize even though she was caught red handed with fur coats and electronics purchased with her stolen gift cards. So in observing her and thinking about this, the following occurred to me.

She acts like she didn't do anything wrong and I think it's because she really thinks she didn't do anything wrong. How can that be? Shiela Dixon didn't invent political corruption. Maryland in general and Baltimore in particular has a long and storied history of political corruption. Most of it democratic corruption but it's had more than enough republican stinkers as well. There is a sense of entitlement within the ranks of these elected officials. They think of themselves much the way that royalty did back in Europe. I can almost hear her thought process as she took a stack of these gift cards, donated and intended for needy families at Christmas, saying to herself that she works hard for the people all year long and she deserves these. I don't think she really thought of it as stealing. Her real mistake in the big picture of Maryland politics was gettting caught. State Senate President Mike Miller, speaker of the house Michael Busch and Gov. Martin O'Malley are as crooked as the day is long but they have so far been smart enough to remain untouchable. I know all kinds of things about O'malley from his days as mayor but none of it could ever be pinned on him andproved. But rest assured he's a liar and a thief. It's just business as usual in Maryland. We're trying to be New Jersey!